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Michael Li hw 10

The article explores a less exposed aspect of analyzing a snapshot of today’s global economy and how existing and highly developed capitalistic societies affect other societies that have not been privatized to an extreme degree. The authors quickly establish the concept of global migration and how it is not so deeply explored beyond the conditions of the work itself and the material exchange gain of the workers and employers (the hiring class of these first world countries) (Devi, 2008:406). They, instead, focus on the social effect it has on the families of migrant workers who seek service work.

Through a numerous set of examples, the authors effectively illustrate the demand for domestic labor in first world countries and the ability for mothers in third world countries to fulfill it. The first negative effect is that the country that exports this labor may actually be in need of these laborers. Some countries may not, however. The commonality between these types of economy is the stress pushed onto families.

The authors define the commons as being anything that is shared in a community, a place where favors are exchanged, and where families and communities can gather and share their company. This does not exist to the degree it once use to in the capitalistic north countries as they do in the south countries. Mothers will migrate to these countries to secure a job in this privatized market. What they leave behind are children that will then need to be cared for by other family members, or friends. This will put stress on the children as it will for the mothers since it forces them to rationalize these broken relationships, with an implication that there is little to no guidance by the authors.

The importance of this issue is expressed as a necessary component of properly analyzing the effect of countries as a whole. This loss of the commons cause by the empty space left behind by an absent mother can have cultural wide negative effects. The siphoning of migrant mothers from their commons-culture societies to satisfy a capitalist society’s’ labor demands can have lasting effects as the effected children may grow up emotionally and physiologically damaged